A night time industry boss says millennials are being forced into holding illegal raves because they are ‘socially-starved’ by clubs and late-night bars being shut in lockdown.
Michael Kill spoke after two impromptu parties in Brighton and Brixton spiraled out of control with police hurt as scenes turned nasty.
Chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association(NTIA)Mr Kill, 47, said the Government’s new easing of restrictions will do little to help youngsters desperate for a night out.
Violent scenes exploded in Brixton last night as an illegal party sparked violence
He urged the authorities to look at trying to balance safety with helping venues open up again.
Mr Kill said: ‘There is, under the guidance that was released yesterday, there is no avenue to open for live or recorded at all the moment which is very, very frustrating.
‘As you can appreciate there is so much going on, our primary focus is obviously the safety of the public but we also have to balance that with what’s going on in things like youth culture where we are seeing an uplift in illegal raves and things like this where youngsters, millennials, are socially starved.
‘We’ve got to look at starting to address this balance and the late-night economy is that access point for some of the youth culture which we are quite relevantly seeing pop-up up and down the country
‘There are so many cross reference pieces when you can be a pub in the day time and a late bar in the evening and we have also got to recognise the predominance of revenue of these bars come in the late trade not the early trade.
‘Many of the businesses we deal with as members and wider industry have decided now is not the time and they are looking to remain closed because the guidance and the way that it has been set out is just not financially viable.’
Police had to break up a Brighton gathering on Wednesday night as hundreds massed in the resort
His comments, made to Radio 4’s Today programme, come in the wake of a number of impromptu events police have struggled to control.
Last night officers had to break up a huge Brighton seafront party sending home hundreds of youngsters home after scuffles broke out.
Ten police vehicles were called to Hove Lawns, West Sussex at 8.40pm yesterday amid reports of ‘pockets’ of violence in the gathering.
Hundreds of ‘hippies’ gathered in Derbyshire, breaking lockdown at the weekend to mark the Summer Solstice
The youths chanted at the officers, with one eyewitness calling it ‘like a stand-off between hundreds of youths and police’.
In Brixton a street party also exploded into violence as fifteen officers were injured and revellers smashed up a patrol car and fought in the street.
Footage circulating on social media had shown a large amount of revellers congregating near Cecilia Road, in south London, at around 7pm.
Terrifying scenes showed the police beating a retreat after they were run out of the area by a mob,
On Monday Avon and Somerset Police apologised after they failed to shut down nearly 1,000 people breaking lock-down for an all-night party in Stoke Croft, Bristol, over the weekend.
Families were kept awake by the revellers who danced to music from a dub music DJ into the early hours.
Officers had been told the event was going on, but by the time they attended – three hours after their tip-off – it had grown too large.
The night before hundreds of ‘hippies’ defied police orders for an ‘illegal rave’ to mark the Summer Solstice at an ancient English Heritage site.
Video showed hundreds of people, many appearing to be in breach of social distancing rules, gathered at the popular beauty spot in the Peak District in Derbyshire.
Earlier this month a teenager was raped, three people were stabbed and a man killed by a suspected overdose in three illegal raves in the north of England.
The female sex assault victim,18, was attacked at an illegal party of around 2,000 revellers in Greater Manchester on June 13.
Meanwhile 4,000 party-goers held a ‘quarantine rave’, elsewhere in the city while another party was held near Leeds.
On Wednesday Essex Police put in place a dispersal order for Southend-on-Sea front after chaotic scenes of youths partying ended with a car being driven at one group.
